Information modelling is the essential part of information systems design. Design methods, specification languages, and tools tend to become application dependent, aiming at integration of methodologies stretching from traditional database design to knowledge bases, and including use of logical languages, and process oriented reactive systems description. The topics of the articles cover a wide variety of problems in the area of information modelling, information systems specification, and knowledge bases, ranging from foundations and theories to systems construction and application studies. The contributions are grouped into the following major categories: - Systems specification and information modelling schemes - User interfaces and multimedia - Knowledge organization database structuring - Formal systems - Knowledge and information - From conceptual modelling to software engineering - Description and organization of concepts and objects - Learning systems and applications This book is the eighth volume in the sub-series 'Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases'. This dates back to 1990 with annual publications now amounting to more than 200 reviewed articles. The current volume is intended for researchers, students and practitioners in the area of information systems.

This is a collection of papers presented in the 11th European Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases held in Maribor, Slovenia. This annually organized conference brings together the leading researchers from Europe and Japan to introduce the latest results of their research.

Information modelling is the essential part of information system design. Design methods, specification languages, and tools tend to become application dependent, aiming at integration of methodologies stretching traditional database design to advanced knowledge bases, and including use of logical languages, and process oriented system description. The topics of the articles in this book cover a wide variety of themes in the domain of information modelling, specifications of information systems and knowledge bases, ranging from foundations and theories to systems construction and application studies. The contributions represent the following major themes: the use of ontologies in knowledge modelling concept modelling and conceptual modelling database modelling: applications of object-oriented modelling view integration and consistency checking modelling multimedia and multimedia models design methods process modelling formal systems.

In the last decades information modelling and knowledge bases have become hot topics not only in academic communities related to information systems and computer science, but also in business areas where information technology is applied. This book includes papers submitted to the 17th European-Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases (EJC 2007). The EJC conferences constitute a world-wide research forum for the exchange of scientific results and experiences achieved in computer science and other related disciplines using innovative methods and progressive approaches. In this way a platform has been established drawing together researches as well as practitioners dealing with information modelling and knowledge bases. Thus the main topics of the EJC conferences target the variety of themes in the domain of information modelling, conceptual analysis, design and specification of information systems, ontologies, software engineering, knowledge and process management, data and knowledge bases. The organizers also aim at applying new progressive theories. To this end, much attention is being paid also to theoretical disciplines including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, logic, linguistics and analytical philosophy. The selected papers cover many areas of information modelling, namely theory of concepts, database semantics, knowledge representation, software engineering, WWW information management, context-based information retrieval, ontological technology, image databases, temporal and spatial databases, document data management, process management, and many others.

Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community. While this term has been rather confined to the philosophical sphere in the past, it is now gaining a specific role in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, and Databases. Its importance has been recognized in fields as diverse as knowledge engineering, knowledge representation, qualitative modeling, language engineering, database design, information integration, object-oriented analysis, information retrieval and extraction, knowledge management and organization, agent-based systems design. Current applications areas are disparate, including enterprise integration, natural language translation, medicine, mechanical engineering, electronic commerce, geographic information systems, legal information systems, and biological information systems. Various workshops addressing the engineering aspects of ontology have been held in the recent years. However, ontology by 'its very nature' ought to be a unifying discipline. Insights in this field have potential impact on the whole area of information systems (taking this term in its broadest sense), as testified by the interest recently shown by international standards organizations. In order to provide a solid general foundation for this work, it is therefore important to focus on the common scientific principles and open problems arising from current tools, methodologies, and applications of ontology.

LISTENING TO MUSIC is designed to help develop and refine the listening skills of your students and inspire a lifelong appreciation of music. Author and award-winning scholar-teacher Craig Wright, who has taught Music Appreciation courses for more than 35 years, is consistently praised by reviewers and other professors for his unparalleled accuracy and his clear, direct, conversational style. Throughout the book, Wright connects with today's students by incorporating comparisons between pop and classical music and by using examples from popular artists to illustrate core concepts. This chronological text succinctly covers traditional Western music from medieval to modern, discussing examples from each historical period within their social contexts and the construction of each piece. Later chapters cover popular music, its impact on musical globalization, and comparisons between Western and non-Western music. LISTENING TO MUSIC is the only text that provides Craig Wright's own Listening Exercises, in the book and online, which help students focus on important musical elements and episodes. A free CD, packaged with each printed copy of the text, includes all of the musical examples for the Part 1 listening exercises. A full set of optional online student resources includes Active Listening Guides, streaming music, an interactive eBook, quizzing, and more--all to challenge your students. All of the music discussed in the text is also available on CD and on Sony Music download cards. Available with InfoTrac Student Collections http://gocengage.com/infotrac.

Simulators are becoming standard equipment for interactive learning environments. They allow for attractive teaching with a large degree of freedom for the learner. However, without proper guidance, the learner easily gets lost in a simulation environment. Providing guidance requires an image of what the learner is doing. Acquiring this image by diagnosing the behaviour of the learner is a complex and resource-intensive task for which yet no general approach exists. In this book, we apply existing ideas and techniques from the field of model-based reasoning and diagnosis to interactive learning environments. We present a framework for subject matter modelling and diagnosis of learner behaviour. The framework defines generic techniques for automatically generating subject matter models from qualitative simulations. A generic model-based engine employs these models for diagnosing the learner's behaviour. The framework provides a powerful and reusable approach to individualising guidance in educational systems.

Papers direct the focus of interest to the development and use of conceptual models in information systems of various kinds and aim at improving awareness about general or specific problems and solutions in conceptual modelling.

The theme of this book is Knowledge and Media in Learning Systems, and papers that explore the emerging roles of intelligent multimedia and distributed technologies as well as computer supported collaboration within that theme are included. The spread of topics is very wide encompassing both well- established areas such as student modelling as well as more novel topics such as distributed intelligent tutoring on the World Wide Web. Far from undermining the need to understand how learning and teaching interact, the newer media continue to emphasise the interdependence of these two processes. Collaboration and tools for collaboration are the major topics of interest. Understanding how human learners collaborate, how peer tutoring works and how the computer can play a useful role as either a more able of even a less able learning partner are all explored here.

This is the 12th volume in a series on information modelling and knowledge bases. The topics of the articles cover a wide variety of themes in the domain of information modelling, design and specification of information systems and knowledge bases, ranging from foundations and theories to systems construction and application studies. The contributions in this volume represent the following major themes: models in intelligent activity; concept modelling and conceptual modelling; conceptual modelling and information requirements specification; collections of concepts, knowledge base design, and database design; human-computer interaction and modelling; software engineering and modelling; and applications.